Developing an Implementation Plan: Nurse Shortage
Details:
Consider the population in which the solution is intended, the staff that will participate, and the key contributors that must provide approval and/or support for your project to be implemented. These stakeholders are considered your audience.
Develop an implementation plan (1,500-2,000 words) using the "Topic 3: Checklist" resource. The elements that should be included in your plan are listed below:
1.Method of obtaining necessary approval(s) and securing support from your organization's leadership and fellow staff.
2.Description of current problem, issue, or deficit requiring a change. Hint: If you are proposing a change in current policy, process, or procedure(s) when delivering patient care, describe first the current policy, process, or procedure as a baseline for comparison.
3.Detailed explanation of proposed solution (new policy, process, procedure, or education to address the problem/deficit).
4.Rationale for selecting proposed solution.
5.Evidence from your Review of Literature in Topic 2 to support your proposed solution and reason for change.
6.Description of implementation logistics (When and how will the change be integrated into the current organizational structure, culture, and workflow? Who will be responsible for initiating the change, educating staff, and overseeing the implementation process?)
7.Resources required for implementation: staff; educational materials (pamphlets, handouts, posters, and PowerPoint presentations); assessment tools (questionnaires, surveys, pre- and post-tests to assess knowledge of participants at baseline and after intervention); technology (technology or software needs); funds (cost of educating staff, printing or producing educational materials, gathering and analyzing data before, during, and following implementation), and staff to initiate, oversee, and evaluate change.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.
You are required to submit this assignment to Turnitin. Please refer to the directions in the Student Success Center.
5 NRS 441v.11R.Module 3_Checklist.doc
Nurse Shortage
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Nurse Shortage
The nursing profession in America has been experiencing a number of challenges, all of which have impacted the quality delivery mechanisms. Even with the recent developments in health care delivery and patient’s insurance, there have been challenges (The American Nurses Association, 2016). One of the main challenges is the nurses’ shortage in the country. This is shortcoming that has had massive impacts on care delivery, as the hospitals try to keep up with the services demand, government policies and a never ending secondary challenges associated with the same (Erickson, 2001). Due to the fact that, there is a shortage in nurses, this means that the few that are in rotation, are overworked (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2016). This further brings up the issue of fatigue and burnouts. By extension, where nurses feel that they are overworked, they quit their profession or change hospitals, in search of better working conditions. This means that the hospitals, despite the fact that they are struggling with hiring more nurses, they also have the challenge of retaining the ones that they have. What is more interesting to note is that, the demand for nurses is constantly growing (The American Nurses Association, 2016). This implicates the health care delivery negatively and increases the risks of diseases and health complications in the society.
Obtaining approval
To obtain approval for the project this will involve a number of departments. One of the main departments that will have to be consulted is the research and development. This is relative to the evaluation of the research proposal and implications of the same on the organization. The research and development department is also responsible for the resources and the evaluation aspects of the research, to ensure that it achieves the desired goals. It is also crucial to note that this is the department that organizes and implements the various research protocols, as such the research will be done under the guidance of the department officials. The other departments that will be consulted to give their approval on the research include the finance department for the funding of the research, the human resources development department, relative to the interviews that will be conducted and the implications of the same (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2016). The human resources department is one that has been experiencing much of the pressure, due to the low employment rate, the high turnover rate, escalating burnout rates, policies developments and the ever increasing gap between the work that needs to be accomplished and the human resources to work with.
Problem identification
Patient safety and quality of care are constantly being compromised by the fact that there not enough nurses to handle the work load. Most of the nurses on rotation are highly overwhelmed, dissatisfied ad distressed. This is relative to the high ratios that exist between the nurses available and the patients that need care. Due to the fact that there are fewer nurses than the number of patients that need care, most of the nurses end up being frustrated. What’s more is that, there is an expected rise in demand for nurses by the year 2018 to rise to above 3.2 million (Minority Nurse, 2016). This is a 60% increase, compared to the demand for nurses back in the year 2008 (Minority Nurse, 2016). In a span of ten years, the demand has shot up to staggering figures and challenges are mounting. It is interesting to note that, while there are more than 300000 nurses that apply for nursing in various schools, only about 78000 are accepted into the schools of nursing across the states (Minority Nurse, 2016). This is then followed by only about 20% of these starting work in their nursing profession. It is also important that more than 50% of the nurses that start a nursing career, abandon it after two years and move on to other professions (Minority Nurse, 2016).
With these figures pointing to the ever reducing number of nurses in the health care system, it is indicative why this is a concern. Where the nurses do not match the number of patients that need assistance there is an element of nursing being overworked. This further leads to the nurses complaining of burnout and eventually some of them giving up on the profession due in part to the level of pressure associated with nursing in the current system. Consequently, this leaves most of the organizations grappling with fatigued, unmotivated nurses and a high turnover to manage. At the same time the patient care is impacted negatively (Rosseter, 2014). This relative to the fact that, organizations that have high turnover and nurses experiencing burnout, also experience high rates of risk adjusted mortality along with severity adjusted length of stay at the hospital (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2016). What is more, is that the largest gr...